Hatiora gaertneri
by Jem Doe
Summary: Okay, so maybe Clary was drawing her neighbor.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so maybe Clary was drawing her neighbor. From a distance. When the girl went to water her plants. And it was also maybe a permanent work in progress, because when she noticed, Clary was staring at the girl for the past ten minutes with a pencil on her hands, awaiting for the next line on the girl's drawing (of her hands, holding a nice water pitch. The image Clary had in mind was of the girl drawn like an angel, pouring water over heavenly plants. Maybe some herbs. There was also some vague sketching of her face, emphasis on sketching.). It wasn't very much a work in progress as much as perpetually unfinished because someone is too gay.

But, on the positive side, she had so far determined why the girl's plants seemed so brown, the flowers that had started as red now withered and dead - she had been watering them too much. How she hadn't determined that cactus couldn't be watered everyday was a mistery to Clary, but hey, it at least gave Clary an excuse to draw her. Or try, at least.

Of course, everything went to hell when the girl caught her watching. Clary blushed as bright as her hair, and waved to her. The girl smiled so bright it could've outshined the sun, and looked at Clary's (living and green) plants.

"Hey there, neighbor!", the girl said, voice carrying over the little space between their balconies. "How come your plants are so nice?"

Clary's throat closed up. The girl with nice hair and hands (she had stared at her for the past three weeks, of course she already had favorite things to look at) kept smiling brightly, so Clary tried to think a decent answer.

"I water them every two days?", it came off as a question, didn't it. The girl kept smiling, as if curious, so Clary decided to keep speaking. "Also, those are cactus, right?"

"Yeah, how did you know?", she asked, and Clary decided that the actual answer of "i googled succulent plants and the pictures of Easter Cactus sort of looked like a healthier version of yours" would be too stalker-ish, so she simply shrugged.

"Lucky guess. You see, uh, these plants don't need to be watered everyday."

The girl seemed to think about it for one moment that lasted a lifetime, and the hit her forehead, realization dawning upon her, aparently.

"Of course! Alec wouldn't give me something I could kill easily. Ugh, how I didn't I think about it before…"

Clary deflated. Obviously, a pretty girl like her wouldn't be either gay or single. She decided that it was time to nurse her broken heart and maybe drown herself in a tub of ice cream. She maybe should also call Simon. They could probably marathon Love Live or something. She was also pretty sure her brother would be up to it, too.

Clary sighed and rose up, closing her notebook, but the girl's voice called her back.

"Wait, wait a minute!", she said, and Clary turned back. She leaned on the rail, and seemed… Interested? "You know a lot about plants, right?"

No, but Clary could always Google things up.

"Sort of?"

"Great! Maybe we could grab something to eat and discuss plants? What do you think about, I don't know, two hours from now? Is it a good time for you?", she asked, smiling playfully.

Clary was officially receiving some very mixed signals.

"Sure?", why did everything that came out of her mouth sounded like a question? Did the girl's (what was her name, anyway?) good looks turn her brain into a puddle?

"Great!", the girl beamed, and once again, Clary was blinded. "I'm Isabelle, but call me Izzy, by the way!"

"Clary.", she answered, and Izzy (the name fitted her) smiled. "So, uh, two hours?"

"Yeah! See you soon!", and with that, Izzy adentered her house. Her neighbor, an asian man who gave lots of parties and had the cutest cat ever, was currently sitting and watching, dressed in boxer shorts and a brightly purple blazer, rose up his wine glass at her, whistling lowly and making her look at him.

(wasn't it like, 4 pm or something? Was he going to have another party today? She better get her soundproof headphones ready, then.)

"Nice moves, red.", he said, and Clary blushed. "Good luck on your gardening date. Plant a kiss on her."

Clary was mortified, so she just blushed brighter and entered her home. She had almost two hours to Google the most things she could about cactus and other plants, it seemed.


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright, so let me see if I got that right. This one can be watered just once a week?", Izzy asked, pointing with well manicured hands to one crude drawing of the cactus she owned that Clary had made hurriedly, so that it could be better illustrated. She maybe was playing a risky game, because if she went a few pages behind, the drawing of Izzy's hands and face would be very easily found.

Clary nodded, taking a sip rom her coffee, avoiding to note how well the red dress matched Izzy's complexion and how nice her parfum smelled. Was it lavender? It smelled vaguely like lavender.

"Yeah, that's why it's looking sort of brown. Maybe the roots rotted?", Clary wondered, and Izzy looked so horrified it was sort of funny. "Alright, yeah, bad thing?"

"Terrible. Ugh, Alec's never not gonna let me hear the end of this.", she moaned, and Clary could feel this poor girl's pain. Her own best friend teased her about her (first) killed plants until her brother decided to take matters on his own hands and teached her everything she needed to know about her own plants. "I _knew_ something was up when he gave me those."

"There's still a chance to save them, although?", Clary tried, and Izzy's sharp eyes turned to her. She pointed to a piece of carefully written information in loopy script. "See, aparently there still is a bit of salvageable plant. Maybe if you change the soil and get a better drainage, and uh, don't water it for a few weeks, maybe it won't die."

Izzy's eyes shone like stars, and she put her hands on Clary's shoulders, the smell of lavender drowning Clary's senses.

"I could kiss you right now! Thank you so much, Clary!", she purrs, and Clary blushed, rising up and leaving poor Izzy bewildered. She needed a moment to remind herself that the girl in front of her was probably very straight.

"Er, gotta go to the bathroom, I'll be right back.", Clary excused herself, but Izzy grabbed her wrist.

"Can I look through your notebook? It's a sketchbook, right?", she asked, and Clary gave her a small nod, before Izzy smiled and let her wrist go, thanking her.

Clary only remembered the drawing she was making of Izzy when she was drying her hands, and panic washed over her. She had just ruined it all, didn't she? Maybe she could live in that bathroom for the rest of her life. She could probably sneak out for coffee and sandwiches.

She took a deep breath. She could do this. Maybe Izzy hadn't seen it. Maybe the sun rose in the west and set in the east. She probably had a chance to escape this with her honor intact.

Clary steeled herself and walked out of that bathroom as if nothing had happened, as if she hadn't put one and one to make two. A girl could dream, after all.

She met Izzy looking at one of the studies of the fat cat that her neighbor had, a smile playing softly on her lips, and she held out a sigh. She hadn't seen it. Great. Clary's gay ass was saved.

"So, what do you think of it?", Clary asked, deciding to take an experimental sip of coffee, and Izzy smiled as brightly as the sun.

"It's great! I love you how you drew the cat, although I do think you should complete the drawing of me you've started.", she rattled off, and Clary choked on her lukewarm coffee, looking at her with wide and terrified eyes. "So, since you're gonna need to see the model to finish it, I took the liberty of writing my number on the corner of your first page, right under your info! Sorry if it seems a bit bold."

"No, no, it's alright.", Clary tried, voice raw. She could _feel_ herself blushing. "You don't mind I did some creepy drawing?"

Izzy simply smiled.

"Well, it's pretty, so I wouldn't say exactly 'creepy'. Second, you helped me with my plants, so you're good in my books. But do cut it out, won't you? You've got my number now, you don't need to hang out on the balcony anymore.", Izzy stopped, drank a sip of her own coffee, and seemed to think about it for a moment. "Maybe you should, I quite like seeing your cute face. Now, one question. If I kissed you, would you mind?"

Was this some sort of trick question? Was Clary being pranked by her stupid older brother and Simon, who were always trying to get her a girlfriend? Where had the floor gone to? Should she feel so empty-headed?

"No?", she started, and blinked quickly. Did that sound like a refusal? "No, I wouldn't mind."

Izzy smile, predatoraly so, and leaned in, going to kiss Clary and probably make the seven trumpets of apocalypse sound, because Clary would effectively die.

But then she didn't, rising up with the smile still painted on her lips.

"It was nice to know you, Clary. I've got to go, although, but I'm sure we can go on if you call me.", Izzy said, and gave Clary a light peck on her cheek. "Do call me. I'd love to see your drawing completed."

She left Clary in a flurry of parfum and red fabric, and Clary couldn't help but go through her drawing notebook, stopping right where her name was written in loopy calligraphy, and finding a serie of numbers in a calligraphy that matched Izzy.

She touched her cheek and smiled.


End file.
